Interview : Marco Papa, APAC technical-sales manager
Interview with Mr Marco Papa, APAC technical-sales manager
In the first part of 2013, SI Media has opened a new office in Singapore, with the aim to better support the Asian Market and increase its presence in a region full of opportunities. About this we will speak with Mr. Marco Papa, our Technical Sales Manager for APAC Region.
1) In which countries has SI Media decided to start working and increasing its presence in the last months?
The south east of Asia is a region very wide and with different necessities and behaviour. There are a few countries where we are actively involved with customers and projects: first of all Singapore, small country but full of opportunities if you can provide a good product and a good support, then Malaysia, Indonesia (with almost 800 TV stations is one of the biggest Markets in the APAC region), Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India, countries that are growing very fast in these years. We know that the language sometimes is an issue specially in Asian Countries so we decided to add other languages to our software (that was already available in English, Spanish, Russian and Italian), the new languages available are Mandarin Chinese, Thai and Japanese in order to make all those cultures more comfortable while using our software.
2) Which are SI Media ’s products that have been more successful in this period?
First of all you should think that SI Media has developed a module specially for the APAC Market that is called MediaDelayEditor and is a Delay Server with advanced Censoring functions (like “follow my movement blur”, graphics overlay and video replace) and AD Insertion tools that fits the need of all the broadcasters that everyday have to work with censure and profanity. This software is fully integrated with our MAM system and with our Traffic system and is still growing day by day thanks to our customer feedback. I’m very proud of this software because is setting up a new standard in the market. Other than this, also the MAM and the NewsRoom are really appreciated in the market, the first one thanks to the great flexibility and integration capabilities and the second one because of the easy to use interface (now available also for smartphones) that facilitates the everyday work of journalists.
3) How has been your experience in this area so far?
It is a great experience. The area has lots of different cultures to discover and different way to think a TV station. This permits SI Media to keep growing and make our solution even more open and with a wide range of functions. Furthermore, I have the opportunity to live in Singapore and feel a completely new atmosphere. At the end of January I will enjoy for the first time the colourful celebrations of Chinese New Year, do you think is something possible in Europe?
4) And regarding next steps?
The market is really huge. We need to have stable references in all the countries inside the APAC area in order to keep growing like we are doing now. So, together with a stronger presence in the countries mentioned above we are ready to land in Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand. We will also be present in all the important Expo in the Area: the next one will be BES India (New Delhi) in January, then Broadcast Asia in Singapore next June that is always a good opportunity to meet people from all over Asia.
